About Me

Welcome to Seize Life’s Moments!

My name is Melissa Braden. People call me Mel, Mel B, Braden, Big Bad Braden and the most recent nickname, Melba. I am a Southern California native that feels lucky to live by the Pacific ocean and sunny weather. I have a goofy personality and love to meet new people anywhere/anytime. My interests include singing loudly by myself, watching and playing sports, dancing (or whip nae naeing), eating Mexican food, and drinking wine or beer. On the weekends, you will find me catching a matinee movie or attending a concert. I am that person who will go crazy if I ever met Lil Wayne, Leonardo Dicaprio or Justin Bieber.

I was 25 years old when I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I want to help create awareness for epilepsy and seizure disorders. I am an open book, a lot of the times when I tell people “I have Epilepsy”, a typical reaction is that they don’t really know what it is. I want to educate! I don’t want to feel uncomfortable around people because I have seizures. I don’t want my seizures to hold me back on being me. I want to improve my quality of life. This disorder definitely does not define who I am.

I’m not speaking for all people who live with epilepsy. For me, I want to have meaningful conversations with people who don’t know about it. I want to break their perceptions about epilepsy and the stigmas around it. It has been an extremely tough journey, and it’s still going! I continue to face a new challenge every day. However, I am really excited to share my struggles with you. (to people who have it or not) We are all in this together. Come together and all we need is love. (In my bio, I forgot to mention that I am obsessed with the Beatles).

I believe my seizure diagnosis was a sign for me to personally change my lifestyle for the better (physically and emotionally). There are many things I can improve on like healthy dieting, exercise and positive thinking. I want to transform my life and see if any of these changes will help limit my seizures. (Crossing my fingers) Follow my blog for tips on brain nutrition and exercises, the Ketogenic diet, Epilepsy Foundation events, and most importantly how to “seize life’s moments”.